SMB Training Blog

Trading lessons from Happy Hour

We held a traders Happy Hour last night for our proprietary trading firm.

Some of the new hires having a blast asked how often we hold Happy Hours. And I thought, “What we don’t cover this during recruiting?” Note to HR.

Rooming the room to check in on everyone a few trading lessons emerged:

Traders were gathering and discussing new ways to make money. As we say on our desk, how to expand your PlayBook. The better traders were using this Happy Hour as an opportunity to brainstorm with other top traders. One idea discussed between two top traders was something that had never been done at the firm and worthy of a deep dive. Some more beers over here please.

Some promising developing traders were using the Happy Hour as a way to review the past week. A gaggle on the desk had two tough days followed by two very strong days. How could they draw down less during the down days? How could they have been bigger during the strong days? Were they leaning too heavily to one side, rather than being more open-minded? How is the AI run-up different than other low float runners?

The most social developing traders were chatting up the top traders about trade ideas and the generation of trade ideas. They were using the strength of their social skills to strengthen their learning. This is a good practice for those who learn best thru interaction. It is not just that you want to build a trading system that allows you to express your strengths in markets, but the way you work to improve ought to match your learning strengths as well.

The Three Monkeys Bar has a really nice roof top bar and beer garden selection. It was enjoyable to be outside in beautiful weather right before the chill is to come.

Perhaps most importantly, the new hires and developing traders, get to socialize with a bunch of traders doing *very* well for the month. They think: I can do that too!

I had to head home to get the kids ready for bed before the end of this gathering. My sense is I may have missed a few things that the younger traders did not.